Review

When you think of mid to low range phones, who do you think of? Oppo, Google’s A series, Samsung, Xiaomi maybe even Huawei. TCL, anyone? Probably not. Best known for their dexterity in the consumer tech world, you may not have realised their venture into the smartphone world. It’s a lucrative market, the most lucrative…

A meditative presence, a sometimes-actor, and now writer/director, Tyler Atkins seems to revel in the difficulty of categorisation.  And it’s that loose scrappiness that shapes his feature-length debut, Bosch & Rockit, a spirited and emotional film that’s equally as uneasy to singularly designate. Based on Atkins’ own childhood, the film flirts with multiple genre temperaments…

A gaudy game of cat-and-mouse and pseudo-philosophical musings on sexual orientation and gender sit at the core of Amanda Kramer‘s Please Baby Please, a wild but, sadly, insufferable drama that’s more sleazy than it is stylish. Set in 1950’s New York, the film reveals its bizarre, sexualised tone in its early minutes when bohemian couple…

Whilst there’s no surprise revealed in the fact that Emma Thompson truly deserves to be considered one of the greatest living actresses working today, it’s always appreciated when a performance solidifies such a statement.  And in the deliriously charming and strikingly emotional Good Luck To You, Leo Grande, Thompson turns in career-best work that leans…

A PC remaster of a game always has a lot to live up to. And when said game is critically-acclaimed, universally-lauded by fans and industry members, multi-time Game of The Year (2018) recipient Marvel’s Spider-Man you know you’ve got some big webby shoes to fill. At minimum, PC punters are hankering for the exact marvellous…

At first glance, Live A Live feels like an older, more experienced JRPG that boldly returned to show the younger kids just how it’s done. It feels even stranger however, to discover that’s exactly what this is. Live A Live was released way back in 1994 by developer Square, then known as SquareSoft, but never…

Nobody quite does obscure like director Peter Strickland.  Finding that delicious balance between eccentric and perverse, Flux Gourmet – set over a month-long period in an institute for sonic caterers (yes, that’s a thing) – is perhaps his funniest yet, indulging in the mischief that comes with his unique blend of deadpan dialogue and a…

There are two kinds of people in this world: those who already have a real life army of followers dedicated to praising their glory, and those who simply fantasise about it. I’ll leave it to your imagination as to which camp I’m in, but why let cult dreams be dreams when you can act out…

It’s understandable to be going into a film like Nope and be expecting horror greatness, given that it’s stemming from the mind of Jordan Peele, who, with both Get Out and Us, redefined the genre with his “woke” sensibilities and penchant for symbolism and commentary. Ominous alien invasion is seemingly what’s promised here.  The trailers…

They say crime doesn’t pay, but whoever stated as such may want to have a chat with the titular criminal in John Patton Ford‘s scrappy, oft intense thriller, one that furthers Aubrey Plaza‘s hold on chaos personified characters in the off-kilter subsect of cinema. Plaza’s Emily is a former art student with a $70,000 debt…

A thriller that both leans into the formulaic mentality of the genre whilst simultaneously hoping to combat it, Watcher, from director Chloe Okuno (V/H/S/ 94), is a dread-filled effort that plays on the terrors of voyeurism. Gorgeously shot, though consistently lingering with uncertainty, Watcher lays focus on Julia (Maika Monroe, always a welcome presence in…

With its mix of deadpan satire and high concept sci-fi – comparisons to Yorgos Lanthimos’ 2015 dystopian black comedy The Lobster feel imminent – Dual may be an off-putting experiment to many who can’t readily accept Riley Stearns‘ mentality.  It certainly helps that the film is headlined by the wonderful Karen Gillan though, delivering two…

D-Link’s new Eagle Pro AI series of routers is looking to shake things on both sides of the market, from entry-level routers-to premium mesh systems. The R15 AX1500 Eagle Pro AI stands as the entry-level option, but provides some nifty value through its compact design, Wi-Fi 6 functionality and various smart features including Google Assistant…

An agonising drama if ever there was one, Mass details the type of conversation that instantly makes you feel sickeningly uncomfortable.  And then to watch it unfold in a suffocating location for 110 minutes is a test of endurance that audiences may be unprepared for. The tragedy at the centre of the conversation is one…

The Hitman Vs. Assassin subsect of the action genre is one that rarely deviates from its rather tried and true formula; aside from a hefty injection of cash and a star-studded cast, something as recent as Netflix’s throwaway actioner The Gray Man is proof that the genre, even in 2022, seems comfortable resting on its…

Though What Josiah Saw may include rather expected tropes of the haunted gothic subsect of the horror genre, Vincent Grashaw‘s self-contained chiller continually subverts our expectations with a brutal eeriness that’s likely to divide its audience between those who are enveloped by its slow burn mentality and those who prefer their horrors far less subtle….

As Dusk Falls is in many ways a perfect representation of its setting and characters. Tucked away in Arizona, the small town of Two Rock paired with a deep and nuanced cast of intriguing characters bring to life one of the better video game stories in recent memory. Tied to many of the developer Telltale’s…

Where the Crawdads Sing seemed like the type of film primed for success before it was even released.  Delia Owens‘ 2018 novel was one of those reads that became the prose to intake during its first run (boosted by Reese Witherspoon‘s Hello Sunshine bookclub pick), leading it to be crowned the best-selling fiction title of…

The all-new PlayStation Plus has finally launched in Australia, dividing the subscription service into three separate tiers, each with exclusive features and perks. Admittedly, this review is going to run a little differently to our standard reviews in terms of structure. We’ll also conclude without an overall score, as I believe the experience for many…

It seems that few markets have grown so rapidly in the past few years as the market for mid-range phones has. It’s a fact that tech in general is one of the fastest growing industries in the world, since 2007 worldwide smartphone sales have increased by almost twelve times. Amongst the largest contributors to this…

Once Taika Waititi reinvented the Marvel wheel with 2017’s wild Thor: Ragnarok, it made sense that the studio big-wigs would bestow further free licensing in the character’s shift towards a more humorous mentality. And whilst that’s all well and good – we certainly don’t want the character regressing in any manner – Thor: Love and…

Korean cinema has always been a hub of unmatched quality.  Whilst those that have enjoyed the fruits of labour over the decades aren’t remotely surprised at such a statement – and have been waiting for the world to catch up through viewings of I Saw the Devil and Oldboy – the recent successes of the…

Scott Derrickson has always found a way to blend his horror sensibilities with a certain sense of emotion.  The Exorcism of Emily Rose incorporated the mentality of a legal drama to explore its themes of demonic possession; Deliver Us From Evil unearthed an other worldly entity amongst the trappings of a police-centred thriller; and Sinister…

I’ve always admired musou style games for their sheer intensity. Repeatedly hacking and slashing waves of villains never seems to get old, from the Dynasty Warriors franchise, to the more recent Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity. As a result, the Fire Emblem franchise has decided to try its hand at the genre for the second…

In my opinion, developer Supermassive Games’ Until Dawn stands as one of the most underrated games of the last generation. The Quarry feels like it was made in the same way. It’s focused on telling a rather simplistic story, playing on the horror tropes and expectations that have come before. For the most part, The…

If Baz Luhrmann is a director whose gaudy, lavish, larger-than-life style has been an aesthetic you haven’t gelled with thus far, his “biopic” Elvis isn’t about to change your mind. The director of Moulin Rouge suitably shakes, rattles, rolls, razzles and dazzles over a sometimes-exhausting 159 minutes, kinetically pacing the king of rock ‘n’ roll’s…

It was only a matter of time before crypto currency became something of a talking point in films, and in Blowback, an incredibly generic heist actioner, it’s a point of interest for wronged pretty boy Cam Gigandet as he tries to get out alive from a plan that, wait for it, goes fatally wrong for…

Whilst I’m certainly not suggesting that Fire Island won’t earn some crossover appeal with straight audiences – hell, I even saw this movie with a straight guy – queer audiences are sure to wholeheartedly embrace Joel Kim Booster‘s deliciously funny, at times savage comedy in a manner that’s entirely personal and significantly unique compared to…

Indian representation in cinema has certainly hit a certain stride over the last few years in moving beyond the character stereotypes and Bollywood-framed imagery that Hollywood so often adhered to.  Filmmakers such as Gurinder Chadha and Mira Nair have been representing their native communities for over three decades with their various theatrical offerings – the…

There’s an interesting concept and potentially deep conversation regarding mental illness to be had with Roving Woman, but the execution presented sadly undoes any of the film’s potential, leaving Michal Chmielewski‘s drama a more aimless experience. The roving woman of the title is Sara (Lena Gora), who opens the film in a state of panic…